HB modding challenge TE-30 Tele.

monquixote

That's ace, looks brilliant!

JudasVigilante

@monquixote Thanks very much. Much appreciated.

JudasVigilante

Well, just a little update. I said a few weeks ago after the guitar was finished that I'd upload a soundbite of me playing it. For the sound of the guitar that is, not my playing! LOl

I was messing around doing a little instrumental the other day using the guitar, so here it is finally.

Sorry to have kept any of you that were looking to hear it!

This was recorded using the TE30 HB 'CarboTele' as I've nicknamed it and an Orange 10w practice amp set beside a Hudl 2 tablet recorded into Audio Evolution using the built in mic. Nothing fancy.

Enjoy and feel free to let me know how ok you think it may or may not sound! Excuse the playing. I am not Jimi Hendrix.

Can someone help me on how to to embed Soundcloud player. It shows up in preview, but when I post comment, it disappears.

For now, here's a link till I get it sorted.

http://soundcloud.com/judasvigilante/the-slowest-of-dances-hb-carbotele

JudasVigilante

Sorry about my big ugly face above!

usedtobe

That looks amazing!

The guitar,I mean...

JudasVigilante

usedtobe said:

That looks amazing!

The guitar,I mean...

Thank you so much @usedtobe. Much appreciated.

Andyjr1515

Yup - very nice tone, Paul.  I think you've built yourself a winner all round with this one  =D>

JudasVigilante

Andyjr1515 said:

Yup - very nice tone, Paul.  I think you've built yourself a winner all round with this one  =D>

Thanks very much. Sounds good to me, but neck pickup is very quiet in relation to bridge. And it's almost all the way up to the strings. Is that completely normal for tele's, I heard it can be. It's only about 2/3rds as loud as bridge one.

Rocker

Nice playing @JudasVigilante, lovely tone from your guitar.  Enjoy.

JudasVigilante

Thanks @Rocker. Glad you like the tone. (and the playing) LOL. Cheers.

ab2014

@JudasVigilante I've got a te30 on the way couple of questions. I want to change the scratchplate are they standard spec as the fender ones or axesrus ones? What is the quality of the stock bridge and pots like? I was thinking of just getting compensated saddles. Your guitar looks ace! I'm going for an Esquire vibe mod but with a Dimarzio chopper t in series/parallel/split 

JudasVigilante

@ab2014 The scratchplate I bought was just one off Ebay as it was the only place I could get one to suit the look. The wholes in some places didn't match up, but in some instances they did. Most did actually. I did have to drill the holes for mounting the pickups though, so you'll need a drill for those, though some scratchplates come predrilled for this. The the bridge was ok, nothing special but nothing that wouldn't do. The pots didn't crackle and worked as should, nice and quiet. I'm not an electrics wizard , in fact it's my weak point. But they worked fine and didn't crackle. Nice and smooth control too. But i replaced anyways. I'm not sure what compensated saddles are as I'm new to this myself. This is only the 3rd guitar i've modded. You're guitar sounds like it's gonna be cool too. The te30 is an excellent place to start. It actaully was an excellent little guitar for the money. No fender, but aside from dull pickups, it a cracker. My neck needed a little truss rod adjustment, but frets where bloody excellent, which I was chuffed about as I've never had to file frets. And not looking forward to the first time I have too. It's also a very heavy guitar. I recorded the weight of mine in the build thread, I can't remember what it was now, but it's as least as heavy as my les paul. Heavy, heavy! Which I personally like!

Looking forward to seeing your thread, and if I can be of any assistance, don't hesitate to ask me a question or few. I'm no wixard, but I can at least tell you how I did mine.

All the best, paul

Ps what kind of finish are you going for? Colour etc?

ab2014

I'm actually wanting to keep the standard white finish and change the hardware, electronics and using either a humbucker or single coil sized humbucker in the bridge wiring like esquire but for series split parallel and maybe a 4 way switch to also give the option of parallel with cocked wah sound with a capacitor. I would have to work out how to wire that first though.

JudasVigilante

@ab2014 If you need wiring diagrams there are dozens for all sorts of configurations on the seymour duncan site. Just Google Seymour Duncan wiring diagrams. Maybe you know about this already. The  white finish is really nice and there's a vague hint of grain that comes through mine. For a cheap guitar the finish on mine was good. Really good, only a tiny pinhead spot missed on the back by the finisher. Not bad at all for £60 odd quid.

I wish you well and if I can help (i warn you I'm a bit of a noob at this!) just let me know. There are loads  and loads of guys on here that know everything and I mean everything about guitars, setting up, wiring, finishing etc. The fretboard forums is the place to learn and get your questions answered. All really cool, nice helpful folks.

Regards,

Paul

ab2014

Thanks.

Im quite experienced at building and wiring and couldnt find what i wanted on sd site though im sure its not that much of a change. Mine had arrived yesterday, i used my near expiring vouchers and ended up paying about 20-30 quid. I actually ordered a b stock the only thing wrong with it was 3 tiny dings on the side of the body and 1 odd grain on the top. I don't think i could justify spending £60 on a fancy tele neck pickup considering the whole guitar was less than that. The jack plate and socket looks cheap and will be replaced as well as the pots and wiring and tone cap for a 333 instead of 470. I'm not sure that ill change the bridge pickup yet but may swap it with a dimazio chopper t and still keep a neck pickup. The neck pickup i measured was 5.5k and ceramic and the bridge was 6k. The neck pickup is muddy and has to go. When i change the strings ill be giving the frets a final polish too. I was contemplating changing the bridge plate but may just change the saddles to compensated ones as intonation is a compromise!

Likewise if you need any help or ideas drop me a line!

ab2014

How did you find the difference between stock bridge plate and saddles and the wilkinson replacement. I'm contemplating ordering just the saddles rather than the whole lot. Also looking at Tonerider hot pickups myself after much helpful advice from melvinhiscock. I thought about it but I just can't justify spending £60 on 1 boutique single coil pickup for a Guitar that costs less.

JudasVigilante

The wilkinson to me was a great improvement. Though I'm not that fussy about bridges. The tonerider pickups do get a good reputation.

Sounds like you got a bargain for 20-30 quid. Mine inc. postage to N. Ireland worked out at about 80 quid. I had no vouchers at the time.

Glad you know what you're doing, more than me. I've only ever wired a couple guitars, refinished a couple and this was my first complete overhaul of everything. I didn't keep anything stock at all, but for the body and neck. The Esquires have just a bridge pickup like a LP jnr don't they? That will be really nice. Can't wait to see some pics. All the best.